Scott USA Prospect Goggle Review

Here’s what Dirt Rider’s Kris Keefer thinks of the new Scott goggle

Kris Keefer is a senior test editor at Dirt Rider Magazine and Dirtrider.com. Thanks to those guys for letting him do some freelance work for us!

Scott USA has been in the motorsport goggle industry for over 40 years and for 2016 they have introduced their newest motocross/off-road goggle, “The Prospect”. A complete redesign from their top tier goggle “The Hustle”, the Prospect has been in development for over two years. Some of the standout features of the Prospect is a polycarbonate lens that is 1mm thick (versus 0.8mm thick like most other competitors lenses), the Scott lens locking system that consists of four locking pins that secure the lens to the frame of the goggle for safety (instead of feeding the lens into a groove and securing it with tabs), a wider frame, an updated two position outrigger system that can rotate to fit a wide range of helmet sizes, No Sweat 3.2 foam, and a wider strap for better grip to the helmet.

A brand new goggle from the ground up for the guys at Scott USA

I am a big stickler when it comes to comfort with goggles and the Prospect goggle is one of the most comfortable that I have worn. The No Sweat 3.2 foam against my face feels plush and soaks up enough of my sweat that it doesn’t drip inside the goggle on these 100 plus degree-days that we been having in Southern California. There was no need to purchase any of those women feminine products to add to the top of the goggle’s foam. The field of vision is very similar to the Oakley Airbrake as the Prospect goggle is as wide as its competitor. I have come to get accustomed to the peripheral vision I get with an Oakley Airbrake and the Prospect gives me a wide field of vision similar to its competitor. It is however not so wide that it doesn’t fit in an array of helmets. I went through several helmets while testing (Shoei, Arai, 6D, Fly, Bell, HJC, Fox, Vemar) and the Prospect sealed to my face well in all of them. I did however notice that the goggle does drop low on the nose, which took me some time to get used to. Compared to the other larger/wider framed goggles the Prospect will ride down almost to the edge of my nose and I have a large nose. Adjusting it to your face is key and I found the best way to get it to ride a little higher up on my nose was to get the goggle strap extra tight and to remove the nose guard that the Prospect comes with.

Doing this would allow the goggle to ride a little higher on my face and give me less pressure on the wider part of my nose. It didn’t affect the way it sealed to my face after doing so, but it did take a little longer than usual to find a way to position it correctly. So if you feel like the Prospect is riding a little low on your nose, try tightening the goggle strap a little more than usual. Changing lenses out on the Prospect is as easy as popping two locking pins on top of the frame and two at the bottom. I know Scott says this is more of a safety feature than a convenience feature, but they might want to add “simple lens removal” to their marketing campaign. Once those are popped out, the lens comes out easily and I was able to stick another lens in under 90 seconds!

Adam Cianciarulo was one of the main test riders for the new goggle

I wore the Prospect at a couple races where I didn’t get the greatest of starts and the four-post tear off design takes a little more of a tug to pull. However the way the tear offs lay and fold onto themselves makes it easy NOT to pull more than one at a time. With some other tear off designs there is not enough excess tear off (at the end) to find and pull (while riding), so you end up pulling two or three at a time. With the Scott Prospect tear off design it gives you enough tail that you can feel it easily with gloves and rip only one tear off.

Small Comparison: As you all may know when it comes to wearing what I want on certain days I always gravitate towards Oakley Airbrakes. Yes, I know Airbrakes are expensive and I don’t know if I could afford having four sets (if I had to purchase them myself) of those just laying around for me to wear. With the Scott Prospect goggle’s pricing I could actually afford a few pairs. I would also be getting the same wide peripheral vision and almost the same comfort. I say “almost” because of the low nose area with the Scott’s. The Airbrake’s frame fit better to my face (bridge of nose area sets higher up on my nose) and has zero issues with riding low on my nose like the Prospect’s. However, the Airbrake’s have been known to fog up on me on colder days. I haven’t had a cool day to test the fogging on the Prospect goggle, but I will be continuing to put time on them in the fall. The lens on the Prospect is more resilient to getting scratched, as the Airbrake goggle lens scratches super easy if you don’t keep tear offs on the lens at all times. I could wipe the Prospect lens with my glove while riding and it wouldn’t get nearly as scratched as the Airbrake lens. The winner of swapping lenses still goes to the Airbrake though, but the Prospect is less painless and quicker than any other goggles that are out on the market.

For $89.99 I would consider this a very good goggle for the price. The field of vision, the comfort of the foam on my face, ease of finding the end of the tear off to pull efficiently, and the sheer convenience of replacing lenses make it a great buy. Setting up the goggle to fit up to your face might take you a couple rides to get comfy, but once you do you will agree that this is the best motocross/off-road goggle Scott USA has made to date.